Badly broken & degloved foot

[StPaulieGirls]

Hey folks,

Any advice welcome!! A feral peahen raised a brood on our farm this summer and the Minnesota winter has been hard on the three 6-month-old chicks. We have a house flock of chickens, but know nothing about peafowl.

Yesterday, I found one of the male chicks with a badly broken foot. It's all but severed at the ankle joint (the tissue is damaged, the bone is exposed and the foot curled under backwards) and one of the toes was completely degloved. He was in bad enough shape that I could catch him, even though he's essentially wild.

Here's what we've done so far:
- Washed the foot in epsom salts
-Applied triple antibiotic ointment to the whole foot
- Wrapped and splinted the foot to a flat duck-foot shaped piece of cardboard in a not-perfect position, but closer to normal than it was dangling. Not sure if things are even connected enough to heal.

I have this feral bird in a dog crate indoors. He was still alive this morning, but not standing up. Maybe that's fine.
Sorry I didn't take photos during the treatment. It was hard enough to get it done.

Wondering a lot of things:
- Should he be on oral antibiotics? We've got amoxicillin and doxycycline on hand.
- How often should we change the bandage and splint?
- If he can possibly heal some and live a life with one good foot, can we house him with our flock of chickens? With what adaptations?
- Should we just put him down? That would make me very sad, but I don't want a creature to suffer.

Thanks for any advice!!

 

[Eggcessive]

@casportpony has pea fowl and may be helpful. With him being feral complicates things. I would keep soaking the foot in warm Epsom salts water, or water with chlorhexidene or betadine since bone is exposed. Keep up the antibiotic ointment, and use a clean towel for bedding. A better antibiotic choice might be clindamycin or cephalexin, but I will leave that to Kathy. A vet may need to prescribe that if you have a friendly regular vet.

 

[StPaulieGirls]

Here are photos of what we're dealing with. Necrosis has set it. We can't take him to a vet. He's still lively and strong but we think this will probably end up fatal and soon...Most folks have advised against a home amputation. We just got oral antibiotics and will start them tomorrow, or we may make plans to euthanize him as humanely as we can....

 

[micstrachan]

Why do you think it will be fatal? Is he hurt elsewhere? We’ve seen chickens lose toes and feet to frostbite, but I’m not sure about sm injury? If it’s his only injury and you can keep him from getting infected, I would think he might be ok. I do wonder if home amputation could work. Or if the foot survives, maybe you could fashion sone sort of she/boot so he can walk on it?

 

[StPaulieGirls]

@micstrachan Maybe I'm thinking this is worse than it is? Do you really think this foot can survive? Won't the gangrene spread and he'll go into sepsis and die a miserable death? He doesn't seem injured anywhere. Isn't stinking necrotic tissue already infected? Can I just keep washing his ruined foot with epsom salts and applying triple antibiotic? I'll try to give him oral antibiotics today or go get injectable penicillin.... Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am tagging @casportpony again to see if she can help. Normally I would not attempt amputation without a vet, but it may be the only way you can save him. It is late now, but a large animal vet or dog/cat vet could probably amputate the leg. Anesthesia can be dangerous with chickens, so I would rather do it without that myself. Do you have Betadine or chlorhexidene (Hibiclens) to disinfect the wound or for amputating?

 

[micstrachan]

I’m sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you meant fatal to the bird, not just the foot. Yes, the necrotic part is done. I’m not sure about the infection spreading and going septic, but I’d do an oral antibiotic. You might start that asap if you haven’t already.
Is a vet an option? How does it look now compared to Monday and what’s his behavior like? Can you post more photos?

 

[StPaulieGirls]

It's just the one foot. I'm in touch with an animal rescue that has other peacocks and am hopeful they can help.

I'm on the conservative track of cleaning and applying antibiotic, but it sounds like I need something from a vet other than triple antibiotic. I've never given injectable antibiotics. I've read the posts about injecting into the breast. I tried to give him oral amoxicillin on bread but he didn't eat it. Maybe I need to get some down his throat.

He didn't eat very much today. He's pooping. Is pooping a sign that he's eating and drinking something, or would he poop if he were just metabolizing fat or whatever happens when animals start starving?

He can still stand. He's very sedate -- spends most of the day lying down facing the mirror. I guess I would too, but I'm worried he's declining slowly. He's probably depressed, or whatever the animal version of depressed is, being separated from his flock.

** What would the early signs of septicemia or sepsis look like? **

Today is the first mild day we've had in a long time and one of the other juveniles flew up higher into the trees mid-day -- very methodically and not in a panic -- and I swear she was looking for Pascal.

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be best to give the amoxicillin orally 250 mg twice a day, and undiluted. Poultry NutriDrench or electrolytes would be helpful. Can you try offering wet feed in a lot of water up to the beak in a small cup. Bits of scrambled egg or tuna are good to coax him to eat. Do younhave antiseptics to clean the wound after soaking it? Chlorhexidene (Hibiclens in drug stores) and Betadine povidone iodine (Equate First Aid Solution at Walmart) are good ones to use. You can try to rub off some of the necrotic or dead tissue just enough to make it bleed. If you have any nurse or medical friends they might help you debride the area. It would be great if a wildlife rescue could help him. Let us know how he gets along.

 

[micstrachan]

@StPaulieGirls how is this bird’s foot (and the rest of him) doing?